Top Ten Saddest Doctor Who Moments
The list is Top Ten Saddest Doctor Who Moments. This was a hard list to finish (which is why it published so very late). It is not that there is a shortage of sad moments. It is just the opposite. I had too many that it seemed impossible to narrow down. If the Doctor is fire and ice then the show walks the line of joy and tears. It is hard to separate the celebration and fun from the tragic moments. And yet I still watch because the tears are worth all the other things. And it is brilliant tears and all (I often do not say that when the show is causing me tears. It is more of a "stupid Moffett!")
It is this balance of joys and tears that brought me to list moments that have been saddest to me. I am sure I have missed some. Even as I re-watch I am re-finding moments of sadness that I had forgotten/suppressed. Fair warning, there are SPOILERS, if you haven't seen the episodes. Also, this is a list of sad moments, it needs a soundtrack. It is the Ood's farewell to the Tenth Doctor:
10. The Second Meeting of Billy Shipton and Sally Sparrow
Episode: Blink
I cried when he said he only had till the rain stopped. He waited his whole life to see her again knowing he would die soon after.
9. The Letter From Reinette
Episode: Girl in the Fireplace
"My Dear Doctor, The path has never seemed more slow and yet I fear I am nearing its end. Reason tells me that you and I are unlikely to meet again, but I think I shall not listen to reason. I have seen the world inside your head and know that all things are possible. Hurry then my love; my days grow shorter now and I am so very weak. Godspeed my lonely angel."
8. Vincent's Legacy
Episode: Vincent and the DoctorI get weepy when the Doctor takes Vincent to the gallery and the Curator says:
"...to me Van Gogh is the finest painter of them all. Certainly the most popular, great painter of all time. The most beloved, his command of colour most magnificent. He transformed the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty. Pain is easy to portray, but to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstasy and joy and magnificence of our world, no one had ever done it before. Perhaps no one ever will again. To my mind, that strange, wild man who roamed the fields of Provence was not only the world's greatest artist, but also one of the greatest men who ever lived. "
7. Amy Forgets Rory
Episode: Cold Blood
Rory takes a shot intended for the Doctor and "falls" through a crack in time in space leading to his existence being forgotten.
The Doctor: It's going to be hard but you can do it. Tell me about Rory, huh? Fantastic Rory. Funny Rory. Gorgeous Rory. Amy, listen to me: do exactly as I say. Amy please, keep concentrating you can do this.
Amy: I can't.
The Doctor: You can. You can do it. I can't help you unless you do. We can still save his memory.
6. Clara's Fall and Death
Episode: The Snowmen
It was unexpected, especially after it had been announced that the actress was going to be the new companion. It also was just so... sad. Death is always sad and this is the second time the Doctor lost Clara.
5. Astrid Peth's Death
Episode: Voyage of the Damned
Astrid was so brave, so hopeful, so perfect. I wanted her to be the next companion. We got to see so little of her yet that short time was so very full her death still made me well up. The Doctor's failed attempts to save her and his not willing to give up made it worse.
4. “And I suppose, if it’s one last chance to say it, Rose Tyler…”
Episode: Doomsday
I know this is higher on many peoples lists. Rose and the Doctor's goodbye is sad. I have it here because I saw series four before series two so I knew Rose was not parted from the Doctor forever... but it doesn't change the fact that the Doctor used up a sun just to say goodbye and got cut-off:
3. Donna forgetting
Episode: Journey's End
There are no words. The parting of companions always seems so tragic. Of the most recent companions I think Donna has the most tragic good-bye. She was brilliant, saved the universe, and forgot it all. The Doctor took her on an amazing adventures and she forgets it all; but it was more than that from The Runaway Bride to there next encounter in Partners in Crime she became so much more than I think she had ever dreamed for herself. I've come to love Donna more in the re-watching which makes knowing her fate so much harder.
2. River Song's Death and Last Good-ByeEpisode: Forest of the Dead and The Name of the Doctor
I cried the first time I watched Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead, it was so much worse after seeing all of River Song's storyline. All of the tears.
Then in The Name of the Doctor there is this conversation
River Song: How are you even doing that? I'm not really here.
The Doctor: You are always here to me, and I always listen. And I can always see you.
River Song: Then why didn't you speak to me?
The Doctor: Because I thought it would hurt too much. River Song: I believe I could have coped.
The Doctor: No. I thought it would hurt me... and I was right.
Before we reach number one, these are honourable mentions of times Doctor Who made me cry: the human TARDIS' goodbye, Rory waiting, older Amy who waited, Amy's last moments with the Doctor, when the Doctor's daughter died, Rose's Dad dies in Father's Day, and the death of the Face or Bo. Really, any goodbye or death is tragic and causes tears meaning the ultimate sad moments on Doctor Who are...
1. Every regeneration.
Every single one has been sad. I cried as a child; I cry as an adult. I was a mess when Matt Smith left and I knew it was coming. I become a puddle of tears any time David Tennet said "I don't want to go." All regenerations are sad endings like the last page of a book you are happy to have read but aren't really ready to have finished. Here are the first and last words of each of the Doctors
That's my list. Do you agree? Disagree? What did I forget? What should be changed? What is your on list? And now for the mini episode which isn't actually an episode. This is a scene that was written but never shot. It goes well with today's list:
The BBC Countdown to Christmas Advent: Discover Day 14's gift here
Countdown Till Christmas Special Airs: 14 sleeps
Countdown Till Sister Hugs and Family Visit: 14 sleeps
Countdown Till This Whovian sees the Christmas Special: 15 sleeps
Tomorrow's Countdown Post: Ten Reasons I Love the Tenth Doctor
Yesterday's Countdown Post: Whovian Wear: #15-11 Of My Favourite Doctor Who Clothes
Episodes Watched Today: Partners in Crime, Fires of Pompeii, and Planet of the Ood
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